Tootsie Roll Industries, Inc. and subsidiaries, engage in the manufacture and sale of confectionery products.
The majority of the company’s products are sold under the registered trademarks TOOTSIE ROLL, TOOTSIE FRUIT ROLLS, FROOTIES, TOOTSIE POPS, TOOTSIE MINI POPS, CHILD’S PLAY, CARAMEL APPLE POPS, CHARMS, BLOW-POP, CHARMS MINI POPS, CELLA’S, DOTS, JUNIOR MINTS, CHARLESTON CHEW, SUGAR DADDY, SUGAR BABIES, ANDES, FLUFFY STUFF, DUBBLE BUBBLE, RAZZLES, CRY BABY, NIK-L-NIP, and TUTSI POP (Mexico)...
Tootsie Roll Industries, Inc. and subsidiaries, engage in the manufacture and sale of confectionery products.
The majority of the company’s products are sold under the registered trademarks TOOTSIE ROLL, TOOTSIE FRUIT ROLLS, FROOTIES, TOOTSIE POPS, TOOTSIE MINI POPS, CHILD’S PLAY, CARAMEL APPLE POPS, CHARMS, BLOW-POP, CHARMS MINI POPS, CELLA’S, DOTS, JUNIOR MINTS, CHARLESTON CHEW, SUGAR DADDY, SUGAR BABIES, ANDES, FLUFFY STUFF, DUBBLE BUBBLE, RAZZLES, CRY BABY, NIK-L-NIP, and TUTSI POP (Mexico).
The company’s products are marketed in a variety of packages designed to be suitable for display and sale in different types of retail outlets. They are sold through food and grocery brokers or directly by the company itself to customers throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. These customers include wholesale distributors of candy, food and groceries, supermarkets, variety stores, dollar stores, chain grocers, drug chains, discount chains, cooperative grocery associations, mass merchandisers, warehouse and membership club stores, vending machine operators, e-commerce merchants, the U.S. military and fund-raising charitable organizations.
The company’s principal markets are in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The majority of production from the company’s Canadian plants is sold in the United States. The majority of production from the company’s Mexican plant is sold in Mexico.
The company has historically hedged certain of its future sugar needs with derivatives at such times that it believes that the forward markets are favorable. The company’s decision to hedge its major ingredient requirements is dependent on its evaluation of forward commodity markets and their comparison to vendor quotations, if available, and/or historical costs. The company will generally purchase forward derivative contracts (i.e., long position) in selected future months that correspond to its estimated procurement and usage needs of the respective commodity in the respective forward periods.
The company’s major trademarks are registered in the United States, Canada, Mexico and in many other countries. Continued trademark protection is of material importance to its business as a whole.
The manufacture and sale of consumer food products is highly regulated. In the United States, the company’s activities are subject to regulation by various government agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Agriculture, the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Commerce and the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as various state and local agencies.
The company’s business has seasonality which results in bringing on some additional employees to meet seasonal production demands principally in advance of the Halloween selling season in the third quarter each year. The company experiences a relatively consistent sales level throughout the year except for an increase in the third quarter which reflects pre-Halloween and back-to-school sales. In anticipation of this seasonal sales period, the company generally begins building inventories, and its seasonal workforce, in the second and third quarter of each year (year ended December 31, 2023). The company’s union labor agreement at its Chicago plant was negotiated and executed in 2023 and expires in September 2027.
The company focuses significant attention on attracting and retaining talented and experienced individuals to manage and support its operations.
The company’s net product sales from Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (Wal-Mart) aggregated approximately 22.2% of net product sales during the year ended December 31, 2023. The company’s net sales from Dollar Tree, Inc. (Dollar Tree, which includes net sales from Family Dollar which is owned by Dollar Tree) aggregated approximately 14.2% of net product sales during the year ended December 31, 2023.
Some of the aforementioned sales to Wal-Mart and Dollar Tree were sold to McLane Company (McLane), a large national grocery wholesaler, which services and delivers certain of the company’s products to Wal-Mart, Dollar Tree and other retailers in the U.S.A. Net product sales revenues from McLane, which includes these Wal-Mart and Dollar Tree sales, as well as sales and deliveries to other company customers, were 20.1% in 2023.
History
Tootsie Roll Industries, Inc. was founded in 1896. The company was incorporated in 1919.